


A Warm Reception

by Leela



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Multi, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-09
Updated: 2011-12-09
Packaged: 2017-10-27 02:53:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/290864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leela/pseuds/Leela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With no choice but to find a Healer who can help him purge the last of Nagini's venom from his system, Severus Snape is pleasantly surprised by the reception he receives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Warm Reception

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alisanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alisanne/gifts).



> Written for Alisanne in 3fan_holidays 2009 on Livejournal.com.
> 
>  **Betas:** Minxie and eeyore9990, who helped me work out how to do this in (just) under 2,000 words.

"No, damn it, no!" Severus swept cauldron and flame, the fucking potion and its unwelcome news off his workbench.

Red! Gryffindor bloody red!

He Banished the entire mess before it could so much as think about fuming. He raised his arm and spun around, wanting to destroy something else, anything else. But the urge died when he saw the shelves of books he'd gone into debt to purchase and the neat rows of jars, canisters, and boxes filled with ingredients he'd spent a lifetime collecting.

Slumping on his stool, he rested his aching head in his hands. He needed to see a Healer. That he didn't want to see a Healer was irrelevant. He had no choice. He had to get the last of that thrice-bedamned snake's venom out of his system.

~*~

Unlike St Mungo's, the Hogsmeade Clinic guaranteed anonymity. The only way in was through Aberforth Dumbledore. If he didn't approve your request, you didn't get in. End of story. The _Prophet_ had done a non-expose, all about its inability to get a reporter past him.

Severus's appointment arrived less than an hour after sending his owl. The parchment _bristled_ with a Fidelius Charm. Despite himself, Severus was impressed and hopeful that maybe, just maybe, he could avoid the humiliation heaped on Death Eaters in hospital.

~*~

>   
> _The Hogsmeade Clinic is located at 412 Drury Lane, Upper, Hogsmeade. Arrive at 2:35pm on October 21st precisely._
> 
>  _Do not take any potions, Muggle medicines, or herbs two hours before your appointment. Bring details of all potions and other treatments you have tried._
> 
>  _If you are late or cannot see the building when you arrive, go directly to St Mungo's and obtain help from them. We will not be able to assist you._

~*~

A charm pinged when Severus closed the door behind him. The waiting room was empty. No one sat in the comfortable chairs. No children played with the toys stacked neatly in one corner. No one was at the reception desk.

And a Christmas tree? Severus shuddered. Some well-meaning idiot probably thought it was welcoming, rather than abysmally bad taste.

"Hello."

Well-meaning idiot, indeed. Severus swung around and glared at Potter. "You're not a Healer."

"No, I'm not," Potter agreed. "I'm the receptionist." He grinned. "Voted least likely to terrify the patients and all that."

Severus harrumphed. "I can't imagine where anyone got that idea."

"You might change your mind after you meet the rest of our motley crew." Still sporting that inane grin, Potter handed him a clipboard, parchment, and quill. "Have a seat and fill this out."

And with that Potter disappeared through the curtains behind his desk, leaving Severus to fend for himself. If his head didn't ache so abominably, and the questions weren't so damnably invasive, he might have found the solitude relaxing.

He settled for glaring at the tree.

~*~

Twenty-two and a half minutes, two rags that called themselves medical journals, and one pile of shreds formerly known as _Witch Weekly_ later, the curtain behind the reception desk rustled.

Potter's head poked out. "Still there? Good. Just be another few minutes, all right?"

"As I have little choice in the matter," Severus sniffed and plucked another journal off the table with an ostentatious flourish, "I shall, yet again, attempt to distract myself with this mind-numbing tripe."

"Well, I could distract you." Potter perched on the edge of the desk. "If you want, that is."

Despite Severus's best efforts, his left eyebrow climbed towards his hairline and myriad depraved images flashed through his mind. He cleared his throat. "Distract me?"

"It _is_ part of my job. Making the patients feel welcome, and all that."

"How do you usually make the patients feel... _welcome_?"

"Well, I usually—"

"What are you doing?" Draco Malfoy burst through the curtains and almost shoved Potter off the desk in an attempt to sit next to him. "I thought we had an agreement."

"Agreement?" Potter blinked at Malfoy. "About what?"

Potter was doing his best to look innocent, which was clearly not one of his talents. Unfortunately, it sent Severus's imagination skittering back down the train tracks to hell—this time featuring Potter _and_ Malfoy—and by the time he'd yanked it back onto the right track, they were both looking at him expectantly.

Assigning detentions had been a useful tool in dealing with them, he realised with deep regret. He hadn't needed to actually _know_ what they were up to, just that they were up to something.

Before Severus could say anything, Malfoy turned to Potter. "He might be interested if you weren't here."

"We had a deal, Draco," Potter hissed. "About sharing. Remember?"

 _Sharing_? Once again, Severus's wayward left eyebrow arched high and his mind veered into the depths. This time, his cock got into the action, distracting Severus with a determined—and half-hard—twitch. In the Healer's office, no less.

"Well?" Malfoy demanded, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Severus. "What'll it be?"

Severus opened his mouth to inquire what the hell they were on about, when the curtains parted and Hermione Granger appeared. Her hair was pulled back in a painful-looking bun; she wore green Healer's robes and a frown.

"Harry? Draco? Is there a problem? I lit the ready-light a few minutes ago."

The flushes that lit up Malfoy's and Potter's faces were not in the least attractive, Severus decided as he followed Granger to her examining room.

~*~

Granger's examination was swift, impersonal, and complete. She read Severus's questionnaire and asked questions about his reaction to the venom that no one else, not even the Healers at St Mungo's, had considered. And she accepted his potions expertise without hesitation, merely querying his reactions to the various potions and his reasons for choosing them.

After running several diagnostic spells, she conjured an image of his head and zoomed in on a spot of black by his ear. "The venom's right there."

"Dangerous," he managed, almost convinced he could feel the black lines spidering out from it.

"But not untreatable." She retrieved a book from one of the shelves that lined the examination room. "Bream recommends a spell-potion regimen—" the pages flipped over and stopped "— _here_ that should do the trick."

For the first time, Severus was happy to see that know-it-all look on Granger's face. But still... "Potion?"

Obligingly, she turned the book so he could see. "I believe that we can adjust the one he discusses to better counteract Nagini's venom."

Severus mentally compared the two potions and suggested, "Perhaps a variation on the antivenin." He tapped the list of ingredients. "Naga and Runespoor are ancient enemies. We could replace the olive leaf extract with powdered Runespoor fang."

A short time after Granger left the room, Malfoy and Potter reappeared to escort Severus to the back door where a carriage was waiting to take him home.

The warmth of their hands and their odd expressions stayed with him through the trip, sending Severus's mind careening down a track laden with images of hard cocks and calloused hands.

~*~

"You're back," Malfoy said in greeting, when Severus arrived for his last appointment.

"Like you didn't know he had an appointment," Potter pointed out, as he slid Severus's cloak off his shoulders with a lingering caress of Severus's arms.

Shooting a glare at the Christmas tree, which had developed presents, Severus took his usual seat.

"It's not my job to keep the calendar," Malfoy said, depositing the latest issue of _Prodigal Potions_ in Severus's lap.

"What is your job exactly?"

Severus looked up. He'd been wondering that himself.

"Greeting the intelligent patients." Malfoy smirked. "Reassuring them after you've convinced them that we're all brainless Gryffindors."

"Well that explains your extended absences from the desk." Potter sniggered and then turned to Severus. "Coffee?"

Jostling Potter, Malfoy asked, "Tea?"

His left eyebrow quirking—yet again—Severus waited for Potter's response. He felt unreasonably disappointed when, after a prolonged pause, Potter merely smiled and asked, "Fruitcake?"

~*~

His final appointment went swimmingly. All traces of the venom were out of his system and he was finally— _finally_!—headache-free for the first time in five years, and Severus had executed part one of his plan.

Granger had happily accepted his offer to brew a limited number of potions free of charge. After minimal manoeuvring, she'd even volunteered Potter and Malfoy to pick them up from Severus's home.

Revenge, Severus thought as he settled into bed that night, would best be served with the gift of a tight arse around his cock. And then he wanked. Again.

~*~

Each Wednesday afternoon, Severus opened his door to Potter and Malfoy. He didn't allow them past the foyer. He merely picked up boxes of potions from a table and stacked them in their arms, reminding them that potions could not be shrunk without deleterious effect.

Each visit, he raked his eyes over their bodies, deliberately allowing his gaze to linger everywhere but their cocks. He ignored their improper, extended touches and blatant attempts to inveigle an invitation to come inside.

He even waited patiently while Malfoy explained to Potter what 'deleterious' meant.

Then, on the Wednesday before Christmas, he pounced.

~*~

"I don't see any potions." Potter glanced at the table, which bore only Severus's mother's reindeer collection.

Malfoy sniffed the air, redolent of pine, chocolate, and shortbread. "It doesn't smell&emdash"

"Shunpike picked them up earlier." Severus sneered at the looks of confusion on their faces. "Take your shoes off and follow me."

Pivoting on one heel, Severus walked towards the sitting room. His favourite room in the house, it looked out over the snow-covered potions garden. The furniture was comfortable, the side tables sturdy enough to hold a stack or two of books, and his grandmother's piano stood in front of the windows.

Severus took up a position near his miniature Christmas tree and watched them. Potter stumbled when he noticed Lily's picture among the tinsel decorating the mantel, almost falling in his haste to go over and look at it. Malfoy headed for the collection of miniature snakes twining around the red and green candles on top of the piano, each snake representing a different seventh year Slytherin class, although he didn't touch any to invoke the embedded memory.

After a few seconds, Severus cleared his throat and gained their attention. Before he could say anything, before he could launch into the speech he'd designed to draw out their desires, they exchanged a glance and moved towards him. Deliberately, purposefully, although Severus remained still, they seemed to stalk him. Every step they took reverberated up his spine and stole the words from his mouth.

"You have a plan," Malfoy said, sliding a hand up Severus's arm and resting his fingertips against Severus's neck just above his collar.

"We have one, too," Potter murmured, leaning in so that Severus could feel his arousal. "Well, Draco does, but that's the way it always goes. He creates the plans. I make sure they work."

Staring down at them, Severus could feel his heart skip a beat, could feel his breath shudder through his lungs. He clamped down on the urge to run, to sneer, to lash out, and he wrapped an arm around each of them.

"All those years at Hogwarts, surely you learnt—" he kissed Potter, felt him sigh against his cheek as he drew away "—that Malfoy's plans never work out." He turned to Malfoy and licked at his lips.

They felt good, the two of them. Just right, as they crowded into him, as they kissed each other and kissed him.

Severus was harder than he could remember ever being before, riding the edge of orgasm just from their kisses and the touch of their hands, the press of their bodies through his clothes. The bedroom, he thought for a moment, then thrust his hips into their hands and lost himself in them.

 _Happy Christmas to himself, indeed._

~fin~


End file.
